mascarpone

In the late seventies and early eighties my father picked Morels in Minneapolis St. Paul. He would go out and pick two grocery bags of mushrooms and we would be eating them every night for dinner. Little did I know then that they were considered a delicacy and would command such a high price.

Is that East Broadway near Bowery, where all the vegetable vendors sell their wares?

That's Big Bootay! Big Bootay! ← This place sounds like a salon of sin.

Went back to Việt-Nam Bánh Mì Số 1 @ 369 Broome Street (near Mott) today with Pan. Today I went all out and got Iced Sugarcane Juice as well as a Pork Sandwich(#3). Pan got sandwich #1 that had Pork, Vietnamese Salami, and another type of meat that I can't remember with the usual accompaniments as well as the Iced Sugar Cane Juice. I asked for just a little hot sauce this time which was plenty for my taste, however, Pan deliberately asked for hot sauce and his reaction was that it could have been even more spicy. IMO that much hot sauce would overwhelm the other, subtle flavors of the sandwich. We ordered at around 11:45 AM and ate at around noon. The bread was a bit more crunchy than yesterday afternoon, but was still a bit chewy (not like a bagel, but it had a bit of resistance). The Sugarcane Juice was very rich and sweet. At $3.75, it was more expensive than the sandwich. My sandwich was just $3. Pan took pictures of both sandwiches and will post them later today, pending the quality of the photos. As Việt-Nam Bánh Mì Số 1 is far from a sit down place, we ate at a park not far from the shop. At the park we met a local neighborhood regular that we ran into just minutes earlier when ordering. If I lived in that neighborhood I would probably be a regular considering the price and the quality of the sandwiches.

Strange that service is so sour a place famous for its sweets.

After reading recent posts I immediatly scarfed down the sandwich. It was delicious, but the bread was a bit chewy. Perhaps, if I'd eatten it earlier it would have been more crunchy. The chicken was moist, and dark as though it had been in a curry marinade. There was a long, crisp spear of cucumber, pickled carrots, mayo, and cilantro. When I ordered, I requested that my sandwich not be spicy.

I don't have the exact address for the east broadway shop. I think I forgot to mention that the sign on the closed East Broadway shop said they would reopen on June 17 at the new location around Mott/Grand.

I went to East Broadway again today to check out the Sandwich place. Today there was a sign stating that they were moving to a new location at Grand and Mott. I hoofed it up to Grand and ran into another place Việt-Nam Bánh Mì Số 1 @ 369 Broome Street (212) 219-8341. They had a varied selection of sandwiches. I ordered a Chicken Sandwich for $3.25. They also sell fresh Sugarcane juice which I didn't purchase. I can't comment on the sandwich as I am saving it for dinner (will post latter). Afterwards I ran into yet another Vietnamese Pharmacy/Sandwich shop on Grand Street a few blocks East of Mott. The sandwich portion of the establishment is Vietnamese Sandwich. There were banners flying, so I assumed it was a grand opening and didn't go in.

Ouch!

As it seems things seem to be running out of steam here, perhaps something centrally located, like DeMarco's. Has the survey been there yet? I was there but only ordered by the slice. Perhaps the pie would be better. Please excuse me if I am commiting a pizza faux pas by recommending this place. My only excuse is that I have not been to a Pizza survey gathering.

Ahem . . . my name is spelled with a lowercase "m" (mascarpone), thank you very much.

I was in China Town today and I stopped by Nha Trang at 87 Baxter Street and asked if they made sandwiches. The waiter said they didn't but recommended Banh Mi Saigon on East Broadway underneath the bridge. He said this was the best. Very helpful fellow. He said I couldn't miss it, I should just go and ask anyone for "the sandwich place" and I would be able to find it. So I walked there and sure enough there was a tiny shop with the name Bahn Min Saigon. Alas, I was to late. Unfortunaely it was closed. I got there at around 1:30 PM. I assume that they sold everything they made and closed up shop.

My gawd, VivreManger, what a post! Waddaya dink dis is, a doctoral dissertation?

Sorry, I should have spelled this as you just did: kurutteru. Gomenosigh (sp?)

torakris, thanks again for the great links. In the last one, I believe, there was a cartoon version of a scientist/biologist holding an eyedropper and a rack of test tubes. As my Japanese language knowledge is zero, I am not sure what the cartoon implies. Are some Japanese eggs artificially altered, enhanced through the chickens diet? And if so, are these eggs considered more or less acceptable for uncooked consumption? If so, how does acceptability vary between enhanced eggs and naturally raised eggs?

Wow! That is impressive. And being able to credit the chicken is a nice touch.

Okashi does this mean "silly, crazy"? Apart from kurutayru which means insanity. How does this apply to Okashi as a snack food? Are they silly foods?

Wow! The pictures of the eggs are great! The photo of each individual egg with a sicker on it is cute, and the stamped eggs are facinating. What a rigorous system! This extremely thorough appearance gives the consumer the assurance that freshness is guaranteed and the product is perfectly safe for raw consumption.

Out of curiosity, how did this dish get its name (Jew's marrow)? Forgive me for saying so, but this name is quite odd, to say the least.

Thanks, torakris, for this helpful information. One question comes to mind when reading the list, and please excuse me if the question seems unbelievably stupid: are the eggs washed (rinsed) in the shell, or after being cracked open? How are they washed? I guess my ignorance may stem from my lack of experience of handling raw eggs.

Those Atkins scoundrels . . .

Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30AM -2:30 PM $13.95 Saturday-Sunday 11:30 Am-3:00 PM $15.95 Dinner Monday-Thursday: 6-10 $23.95 Friday-Saturday: 5:30 pm-10 pm $25.95 Sunday: 5-9 $25.95 Prices are subject to change without notice. www.minado.com

Thanks, everyone for the excellent feedback on this issue. When I think about it, I never really check the expiration date of eggs when I buy them at my local grocery in New York. I just assume that the eggs that are stocked are good quality. Only a couple of years ago, I decided to purchase eggs that were laid by chickens that were raised on a natural diet, without chemicals, and the like. I really have very little knowledge as to the length of time from when the eggs in my local market are laid to when they are purchased. Nor do I know how they are stored during this interim period (from being laid to being purchased). Only after I met my girlfriend and traveled to her uncle's home in Utsinomiya City and had an omlette for breakfast made from very fresh eggs (perhps laid that morning) did I begin looking for fresh eggs in New York. Nevertheless, my girlfriend refuses to eat raw eggs in the US even if they are the fresh variety from Knollcrest. And as soon as she arrives in Japan, the first thing she eats is Natto with raw egg yolk. Perhaps it is fair to assume that, on the whole, considerably greater attention is devoted to monitoring the freshness of eggs in Japan than in the US as Japanese quisine frequently demands a fresh product for Sukiyaki, as well as other standard dishes, where the consumption of raw eggs in the US is, on the whole, not a common dietary practise.

That's really disgusting...

I had lunch today at Minado, an all-you-can-eat seafood place located at 6 East 32nd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Manhattan. It is a Korean mangaged restaurant in Koreatown serving Japanese-style seafood dishes. The strength of this place is the quantity and variety of sushi, seafood salads, vegetable salads, and cooked items. Minado's weakness, obviously, is its quality, which really can't be compared to other sushi restaurants due to the sheer volume of cuisine prepared. This is not to say that the sushi was hideous on the whole, and considering the type of operation Minado is, the presentation and the sushi is actually quite tolerable. A Japanese friend actually introduced me to Minado. She noticed that the salmon sushi was a bit watery which she attributed to freezing for preservation purposes. Along the theme of frozen food, the desserts, particularly the bite size cakes, were slightly frozen in the center. When we went back for seconds and thirds we tended to gravitate towards the cooked items and decided that the Teriaki beef, Tonkatsu, Salmon on a stick, barbacued pork, and vegetable salads were definitly a step up in qulaity. According to my friend, the quality of the sushi at dinner is considerably higher than at lunch. On the tables is a list of buffet rules, one of which states that customers who waste food will be charged an additional 30% of the total of their bill. Another weakness of Minado is the atmosphere. The place was packed!Survival of the quickest was the name of the game and I soon learned to jump when the fresh fish platters were replenished. There is really no orerly protocol when selecting from the long buffet line, just a stack of plates at either end. The result is a rather chaotic scene of aggresive diners nudging and blocking each other in oder to get the freshly made sushi much like cab drivers during rush hour. The over all tab was $35 after tax and tip.